1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electrical connectors with provisions for cable strain relief, and particularly to a connector wherein a cable strain relief clamp is seated on the connector body.
2. Discussion of the Known Art
It is generally known to incorporate cable strain relief hardware in an electrical connector. Such hardware acts to grip an end of a cable, and to hold the cable end steady relative to the connector. Individual cable wires at the cable end are routed over the connector body to corresponding connector terminals. Strain relief hardware may also be configured to support the cable end at a desired angle with respect to the connector. A known 25 wire-pair connector has a cable strain relief clamp that supports a cable at an acute angle relative to the connector's terminal face, and is available from Superior Modular Products.
A problem exists with the mentioned cable strain relief type connector, however. Specifically, a strain relief clamp associated with the connector is seated at one side end of the connector body. The seated part of the clamp overlies a connector mounting screw hole at the side end, thus making it impossible to insert a mounting screw in the hole conveniently from the direction of the cable side of the connector. That is, only one end of the known connector is accessible to a mounting screw from the cable side. And, once mounted on a mating connector, the other end of the known connector must be secured by less convenient means such as a cable tie-down. Use of the known strain relief cable connector is therefore considerably more difficult and time-consuming in the field, when compared to other cable connectors whose mounting screws can be installed or removed entirely from the cable side. See also U.S. Pat. No. 4,405,187 (Sep. 20, 1983) which relates to a connector construction for PCM cables.